Dear Friends and Family, As part of my work with The Crooked House, a story-sharing platform by and for the children of parental mental health issues, I will be travelling to the 4th International Conference on Families with Parental Mental Health Challenges: Addressing the Needs of the Whole Family. Our mission is to use storytelling as a way to transform post-traumatic stress into post-traumatic growth, bring the lost narratives of the children of ill parents out of the shadows, and advocate for support systems which address the needs unique to children of mentally ill parents. As one of those children myself, I know first hand what helped me survive and how the complex trauma has had an impact on my life. I am honored to be part of the Crooked House project because I believe the work we are doing to raise awareness and provide a safe environment for dialogue about the impact of this unique type of adversity, is a critical narrative in helping the mental health care system change in a positive direction. Please consider supporting my trip to Berkley, CA for this conference and help me improve the lives of the next generation of children of ill parents. If 12 of you donate $25 dollars, you pay for my round-trip airfare. To learn more, go to http://www.thecrookedhouse.org/4th-icfpmhc.html Thank you. Warmest, Alix

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Maggie Jarry, M.S. Coordinates a national working group dedicated to improving awareness and addressing the needs of daughters and sons who have a parent with psychiatric illness.Marin Sardy. is a writer whose work often involves considering her uncommon life with her ill mother, and bringing out the voices of others like her into a community sphere.Mike. started working in the mental health field because he experienced first hand the stigma and isolation unique to the experience of mental illness first hand as the son of a father with schizophrenia. He recognizes the injustice. He also feels the mental health system is very poor and needs to do a better job getting up to date services to people in need. The best way to do that is, " to try and help myself."DC. an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist, co-creator, visionary and founder of theCROOKEDHOUSE.org. grew up with a mother who suffered from bipolar disorder, BPD, NPD and other destructive issues. He has spent a lifetime trying to unravel the effects of growing up in a Crooked House.Alix. was raised by a mother who was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (then known as Manic Depression) when Alix was four. She continues to explore the struggle for healthy boundaries, worrying about passing on a predisposition to mental illness and of course figuring out how to take care of her own mental and emotional health.

"The unavoidable message of this epidemiological and clinical research is that we are taking a huge and unnecessary risk if we skirt our responsibilities as mothers (and fathers) to handle our own depression, addiction, or other mental disorders. . . .Children acquire [their parent's] genes just as they internalize our everyday behaviors. "Victoria Costello, A Lethal Inheritance